Update, February 14th: And the winner is....Rolando Villazón
Now, let us once and for all decide upon who is the greatest tenor of the moment - vote below!
The vote will be open for one week. No cheating! One vote per person only!
Please note this vote is supposed to reflect the tenors status as of now - ie. Plácido Domingo´s must be judged only on current achievements, same as Rolando Villazón, who is only marginally eligible (your choice), and will have to be judged from last years performances..
24 comments:
No Beczala? He would be my second choice after Kaufmann.
Agreed, Beczala should have been up there. If anyone wants to make him their first choice, just write his name under "others". Thanks.
I might be missing something, but where are we supposed to vote?
Well, the box at the bottom of the post. Doesn´t it appear on your screen? If not, I´ll vote for you if you tell me how...
Unfortunately it doesn't (tried both with IE and Chrome). Anyway, although don't even know what names are listed, my pick would definately be Kaufmann.
now I can see it.
What is this? I can't see the poll, either, but how can you compare e.g. voices as different as JDF's and Kaufmann's? Domingo might be past his best vocally, but first, he still sounds very good, second, he's a great artist and singing actor.
Can't compare. Nobody's 100% perfect, let everyone pick the one whose faults are the most palatable for them, and to hell with all polls! :-)
> Nobody's 100% perfect, let everyone pick the one whose faults are the most palatable for them ...
That certainly works in politics.
Anyway, I voted for JK with the key word being "moment," but I have to admit, if I could only see one on stage I'd still choose Domingo.
@Gandharva, that's right, LOL! And true about Domingo; same here.
Philosophical question: Aren't singers perfect by being imperfect? :-)
agreed - at tis moment there is only Kaufmann! But let's do this again in June when RV has some performances under his belt :) A world where both are firing away can only be better!
I do not see Alagna, Cura, Licitra, Kerl, Botha, Giordani, Shicoff, Heppner, Dean Smith, Gould, Andersen, Vargas, Gambill, Seiffert, Filianoti, Pirgu, Ventris, Florian Vogt...where are they?:-)))
Rolando is not singing, so he should not be in the list...
Perhaps the list that we propose is not very significant. Domingo sings baritone now. Lack Beczala and Alagna, at least. The fabulous Florez has a very limited repertoire nor shared with others. However, I voted for Kaufmann was a excellent singer in many repertoires that frequent.
Don't be a spoil sport frufru, polls are fun even if hardly dispositive and by no means compulsory in their outcome as to the who one should most wish to hear.
The list here is fairly good although one could certainly quibble with the odd inclusion or a few exclusions.
JDF is quite unsurpassed in his fach and it has to be acknowledge that his voice really is quite beautiful.
That said, however, his fach is very limited and for that reason has very constrained appeal (I myself like some of the operas he sings in, am amazed at his technical prowess but none of the operas (with the exception of Barbiere) is among my favorites.
Overall, Kaufmann would seem to be the tenor of the moment and very appropriately so. His range extends over a broad spectrum of Italian, French and German roles (very few tenors have as wide a command of the popular repertoire) and he is really, AT THE MOMENT unsurpassed and perhaps unequaled in any of his roles in terms of beauty of tone, technical accomplishment and adequate vocal power. In combination with his considerable dramatic skills one would be at a loss to identify a better exponent. He does seem to have a very, very verybusy schedule though and one wonders how long he can sustain this level (although there is always the example of Domingo - whom I heard in Boccanegra last week in quite superb voice even if somewhat inapposite for the role).
Now that we got this tenor nonsense out of the way lets have a vote on some relevant vocal categories like full lyric/jugendlisch-dramatisch sopranos, lyric mezzos, basses and heldonbaritons (c'mmon Mostly, you know you want to). Maybe start off with a first round of 15, narrow to 10 and then have five finalist for the final poll to select the winner.
Where is Joseph Calleja??? No tenors list is complete without him. He rides from one success to the next. A great young tenor with a unique voice.
There are so many tenors that could be added: for the moment this is perfect spread of those who excel in specific roles and begs the question why this should be a problem? Kaufmann should stick to deutsch and never sing Italian except darker Verdi; JD for Bel Canto, Villazon for lighter Verdi and French (barring Werther which JK now owns): Alzarez (like Alagna) to remind us crossover was ok before we had all these outstanding singers but better with. For the future I can't see Beclaza and Calleja distinguishing themselves like those named. Keep specialising, and let's hear Pavol Breslik in more Donezetti & Mozart.
For me and my preference, I simply enjoy closing my eyes and listening to Ramon Vargas. While his voice has lost a teeny bit of its luster over the years, I still like the way it resonates in my ears. Others mileage may vary...
I would rename the poll to "favourite tenor of the moment" - the list is a strange one. Having Florez on the list is not silly at all (he's fantastic) but his repertoire will always be rather limited. In that way, he's no Domingo.
Although I think Cura/Licitra and the like should not be on a "best of" list that is this short, no one on the list are real heldentenors.. a Heppner/Dean Smith should probably make it (above Alvarez..)
Good bit of fun - but the "best tenor of the moment" kind of disguises it as something a bit more serious than it can be...
I am amazed people are voting for Villazon. He used to be fantastic but he is so unreliable nowadays and the whispers coming out about the state of his voice since the op are not encouraging.
In a similar poll recently the top three tenors were Calleja, Beczala and Kaufmann who were beating their competitors by far.
So a poll where tenors have to be judge ONLY for their current form - those ONLY singing now, EXCEPT Villazon who can be judged from anything in the past!! Talk about biased!! He shouldn't even be on the poll as he has not sung anything for for a year and is not currently on the opera stage.
That 1000s love Villazon there is no doubt, but to have him included in a poll of the best tenor currently on the opera stage, is downright "fraud"!
And who decided on those 5 names, in the first place??
Mr Villazon to be judged on his last year's performances? Which ones ? There were so few after he "cracked" on a high note at the Met as Edgardo.
In truth the ultra-fanatic fans of Messrs Villazon and Florez have been out in force. It's easy to vote more than once if you know how (I only voted once). I salute the honesty of the fans of Mr Alvarez ;)) And, no, I didn't vote for him..
Joseph Calleja
I just don't get it..... is there really a strange form a racism going around that excludes all Italian singers from your ballots? Why aren't Aronica and Giordani on the list?
Oh! I get it.. you have to be part of the mass media 'click' in order to get on the list... not a great tenor. We'll that's not very fair if that's the case. The "other" options really makes this game suck.
I would say that Calleja should be ranked as one of the two world's best Tenors.
James Satariano
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